A Ghost story for halloween
by jeffs
Summary: renamed! A ghostly boy haunts Naraku by doing things like.... A foot or so above Naraku’s head a yellow stream of urine begins to fall on his head . . . “They can’t kill the bastard! I’m going to!” Inuyasha yells!
1. Default Chapter

Naraku's Halloween  
  
I do not own any of the characters in this story.  
  
A, hopefully, different Naraku Story . . .   
  
____________________  
  
Naraku's Castle  
  
early morning . . .   
  
  
  
"Kagura!" Naraku yells! "Come here, now!"  
  
"Lord, do you wish me to enter your bedroom?" Kagura asks through the sliding door outside Naraku's sleeping quarters.  
  
"Yes! Now!"  
  
Kagura opens the door and enters the room. As she looks around, she quickly raises her fan to cover her mouth. It would not do for Naraku to see her smile.  
  
Naraku is covered in webs. Nararku is stuck in bed. He and his futon have been webbed down to the ground. The webs are all tangled together, he tried to get out before yelling for Kagura, but failed. (Think spider-man and criminals)   
  
Naraku spits out some web as he shouts, "Stop covering your mouth and use that fan to cut these damned webs! So I can get up!"  
  
"Of course, lord." Kagura manages to straighten her mouth before lowering her fan and gently cuts the webs with it.  
  
As Naraku stands up, "Burn that futon." He grits out. "Spread the word, when I find out who did that." He pauses, "I'm going to discover new ways to torture a person to death."  
  
**************  
  
a couple of hours later . . .   
  
Kohaku approaches Kagura. "He wants everyone in the audience room. Now."  
  
"What's it about?"  
  
"This morning." Kohaku's mouth twitches, "and at breakfast."  
  
Kagura left eyebrow raises, "Breakfast?"  
  
"His rice bowl shattered. Rice went everywhere."   
  
Kagura's mouth twitches."AH, I see." She glances in the direction of the entrance of the castle and concentrates her mystic senses. 'Hmmm . . . the mystic shields around the castle are still in place. So, either we've got a practical joker, or there is a very strong ghost in the castle.' She thinks.  
  
***********  
  
Audience chamber. Naraku, Kagura, Kohaku and Kanna are the only ones in the chamber.  
  
"You three are the only beings in this castle that have enough free will to do something like this morning." Naraku says in a low menacing voice. "So. Which one of you did it?"  
  
"Sir. I did not do it. There are men in the castle that can tell you where I was all night." Kagura says.  
  
"Sir. I slept in my quarters all night." Kohaku says with his eyes on the floor.  
  
Kanna shakes her head no. Then she points to Naraku's robe.  
  
Naraku glances at the robe and sees the thread holding it together being unraveled as he looks. He shifts his senses to look at the mystical side of the world, and to his shock, there is no connection to the three in front of him.   
  
He sees a ghostly hand unraveling his clothes. "I thought that I ordered shields against ghosts." He growls out.  
  
"The mystical shields against ghosts are in place, lord. I looked at them as I was summoned." Kagura says.  
  
Naraku grabs his disintegrating clothes and says, "Follow me."   
  
He leaves the room and goes to the entrance of the castle. As he walked through the halls, the three from the audience chamber followed, and various guards in the hallways, also follow him.  
  
Naraku looks at the various mystical scrolls around the door. Included in them is the spell that shields the castle from wandering ghosts. He glares at that scroll. 'It's still working. So, why is there a ghost in the castle?' He thinks. 'That doesn't really matter.'  
  
"Kanna."  
  
She approaches and bows her head.   
  
"Find the ghost in your mirror. I want to see it."  
  
Kanna brings out her mirror and holds it up and twists it around until the ghost's reflection is in the mirror.  
  
The ghost looks like a small boy, perhaps a couple of years younger than Kohaku, he is wearing just a simple peasant kimono. Like all ghosts, his legs below the knees fade into mist.  
  
He is hovering just over Naraku's head.   
  
"There is he, sir!" Kohaku says as he points.  
  
When he sees that people know where he is at . . . the boy smiles . . .   
  
He opens his kimono and . . .   
  
A foot or so above Naraku's head a yellow stream of urine begins to fall on Nararku's head . . .   
  
"Kanna" steam rises from Naraku's head as he speaks, "I order you to use your mirror and absorb this ghost. Then destroy it for all time."  
  
Kanna looks into her mirror. She examines it in various ways. Then she lowers the mirror and bows her head.  
  
"What do you mean? It will not work. One of the powers of that mirror is to absorb souls." Naraku says between gritted teeth. "I am going to clean up. I will be in the audience chamber afterward. You have until then to come up with an explanation." He quickly leaves for the bath house.  
  
***********  
  
Later in the audience chamber. Naraku is in new, clean clothes . . . Kagura, Kohaku and a few guards are also in the room.  
  
Kanna enters the room, behind her is an old human male. He has on a leash and he stumbles as he enters into the room.  
  
"Who is this?" Naraku asks.  
  
The man flops onto the ground and speaks with his face on the ground. "Lord and Master, I was the castle's astrologer before you assumed power."  
  
"Hmm. Oh, yes, I sent you to the dungeons and tested some odd torture methods on you."  
  
"Yes, lord and master."  
  
"Why, then, are you before me."  
  
"Lord and master, the stars control everything." He pauses. "And I've done a quick horoscope of your servant, Kanna, and I have determined that because of the stars, the mirror in her possession will not work as well as it normally does."  
  
With an angry expression on his face, Naraku demands, "You are saying that the mirror won't work."  
  
"No, Lord and Master. It will still work, but it powers are diminished at present." He says in a soft voice.  
  
"How long will this last?"  
  
"Until the moon renews itself next week, lord and master."  
  
Naraku stares at the man as he lays in front of him. "After the tortures I put you through, there is no way that you are lying to me."  
  
"I would never do that, Lord and Master!" the man says.  
  
"So, since you are telling me the truth, then, Kanna, next week it had better work." Naraku stares hard at Kanna. Kanna bows to her master.  
  
"Remove this human trash from my presence."  
  
"Kanna show me that ghost again, since the mirror will, at least, do that." Nararku orders after the men leaves the room.  
  
Kanna uses her mirror to show Naraku the ghostly boy.  
  
When he sees himself in the mirror, the boy pulls down his eyelid, showing the red skin underneath (although is this case it's more pale white) and he sticks his tongue out at Naraku.  
  
'Hmmm . . . ' Naraku thinks, 'why? I've killed many people as Onigumo and as myself. I know that there are ghosts wanting vengeance against me. That is why there are mystical spells around the house which prevents ghosts from entering. So how did he get in and why? Forget the why, I killed him and he wants vengeance. Wait . . . ' Naraku stares at the boy. 'Perhaps if I remember how I killed him?'  
  
He racks his memory for a couple of minutes trying to locate the child's face in the memories of the people he's killed.  
  
"Ah! Now I remember." Naraku exclaims after a couple of minutes.   
  
"Sir?" Kagura asks.  
  
"It was before you. I had just found out about the shards and was tracking down the second one I acquired." He nods as he remembers. "I was still having problems tracking down the aura of the shards, so I had to use crude methods to locate it."  
  
"It had been found by a monastery and they were trying to purify it. Fools." He grins. "Anyway, I found out and attacked the place. However, the Abbott had the time to hide it. So, I tortured this boy." He points to the ghost. "In front of the Abbott, his father." The smile on Naraku's face grows. "He had a wonderful expression on his face as the boy screamed."  
  
Naraku's smile fades, "but . . . " he nods. "Yes, that must be it. I promised to give the child a decent burial and then the Abbott told me where the shard was."   
  
"You didn't do it, did you, lord?" Kagura asks.  
  
"Of course not. I burned the place to the ground. The burned bodies were left too rot."  
  
Naraku glares at the ghostly boy. "And, I'm not going do change that." Naraku says in a challenging tone of voice.  
  
The ghostly boy glares back. He nods at Naraku.   
  
Challenge accepted.  
  
_________________________  
  
Hmmm . . . I'll stop the first chapter there.   
  
My plan for this story . . . Post chapter 2 ( humor/horror mix?) Oct 28  
  
Post the final chapter 3 (more horror/gore/violence) on Oct 31.  
  
While I do have some scenes in mind, however, I've got no problems stealing scenes/jokes . . .   
  
So . . . What should the ghost child do as he haunts Naraku?  
  
Oh about horoscopes and Naraku's easy acceptance of that explanation. Horoscopes are believed. They are the truth. Understanding the stars, may be difficult, but they always tell the truth. Every castle/town/village would have at least one astrologer and he would be a very important person. People would consult their horoscopes on a daily basis and do what it says as a regular occurrence. Horoscopes are true...  
  
  
  
thank you for reading  
  
jeff shelton 


	2. The temper Tantrum from hell

Chapter 2  
  
  
  
_____________________  
  
Naraku glares at the ghostly boy. "And, I'm not going do change that." Naraku says in a challenging tone of voice.  
  
The ghostly boy glares back. He nods at Naraku.   
  
  
  
Challenge accepted.  
  
'Very well. It's time to attack the ghost directly.' Naraku thinks. 'I'll need some things from my work room.'  
  
"Follow me." He orders the guards in that are in the chamber. He and the guards leave the room.  
  
"Well, well, well." Kagura says. 'Hmmm... And here I was thinking I'd have to use Sesshoumaru or Inu-yasha, but maybe this ghost.' She smiles.   
  
"Kanna." Kanna turns to Kagura.  
  
"Can you show me that ghost?"  
  
Kagura thinks, 'perhaps the two of us can work together.'   
  
Kanna examines her mirror and shakes her head no. the ghost is gone.  
  
****************  
  
In the halls of the castle below ground.   
  
"Open the door." Naraku orders one of the guards, as he stands in front of a sliding door.  
  
The guard reaches and tries to open the door. It's stuck.  
  
Naraku purses his lips. "Very well. Use your sword and cut an opening through the door."  
  
The guard pulls out his sword and tries to thrust it through the rice paper door. It bounces off.  
  
"Charge the door." He orders the guard. He lowers his head and charges.  
  
The guard crashes into the wall and he bounces off. He lands on the ground in the hallway, unconscious.   
  
Naraku grits his teeth. "You, other three, draw your swords and charge the wall."  
  
The three guards bounce off the wall, unconscious.  
  
'I'm going to have to do it myself.' Naraku thinks as he reaches out to rip the door open.   
  
The door opens easily.  
  
The room full of water behind the door flows rapidly through the open door. Naraku is picked up and shoved through the paper wall behind him and into one of the stone walls that support the castle.  
  
He hits the wall with a bone crushing impact and he falls to the ground.  
  
"Ugghh." Naraku groans as he sits up. 'If I was human.' He thinks, 'I'd be dead.'  
  
"Master!" "Lord!" cries are heard echoing through the halls. Nararku can hear people splashing through the knee deep water that is covering the floor.   
  
'I've got to get up, and show no pain.' Naraku thinks as he stands. He notices that, at least, a couple of the human guards he had with him are dead. The force of the water slammed them into walls and broke them.   
  
"I'm fine." Naraku states to the guards, Kagura, Kohaku, and Kanna as they reach him. He brushes aside any help and walks to the room he had been trying to get in.  
  
The water has damaged the room and destroyed many of the items in it.  
  
'Smart ghost. Without the items in this room, I am not going to be able to destroy it like I was planning.' Naraku thinks, 'but . . . it's just a ghost of a child. How did he know?'  
  
"It'll take months to rebuild this." He grits out.  
  
Naraku turns and glares at the people behind him. The other guards and his servants are standing outside the room. His standing order that only he can enter, this room is still intact, apparently, although that's the only thing about the room that is.  
  
"Clean this mess." He orders as he leaves the room.  
  
  
  
'I've got to think, obviously there is something I'm missing here.' He thinks to himself as he walks on the stone floor of the halls.  
  
As he walks across a section of the hall, the stone flooring changes . . .   
  
Naraku falls through the rice paper floor. He drops down into a quicksand-type substance. "Arrgghh" He grunts out.  
  
He reaches out and his arms turns into tentacles, which stretch out to grab torch-holders that line the walls. He grabs them and starts to drag himself out of the quicksand. After about of minute of tug of war between Naraku and the quicksand, he finally drags himself out and he lays face down on the ground.  
  
"I'm going to create a new level of hell for that brat." He says as he stands up.  
  
'Outside then.' He thinks. He looks up. "No, I'm going to chance that. Ground level." Naraku says to himself.  
  
He goes outside. The guards that are always posted outside, walk toward him. He orders a couple to stay with him, but the rest are to return to their posts.  
  
He looks up in the sky and makes a couple of simple gestures. A few minutes later a flock of birds comes over and the force field protecting Naraku is outlined as the bird excreta hits it.   
  
'How is that brat getting in.' Naraku thinks? 'That stupid promise. That has to be it. That promise must be creating a weakness in my defenses and he's getting through it.'   
  
  
  
One of the spears from one of the guards on the roof crashes against the force field. Naraku glances up and sees that a catapult stone from the roof is falling in his direction. Naraku grabs the shard hanging around his chest and points to the stone. It shatters into dust.  
  
Naraku keeps the shard in hand. 'Lovely. A ghostly boy and in a couple of hours, I'm reduced to using the shards, which is like dropping a stone, similar to the one that just dropped, on an ant to kill it. There has to be a better way.' He thinks.  
  
'What now? Stand here, holding the shards and waiting for him to show himself.' Naraku shakes his head no. 'I'll look like an idiot.'  
  
After a few minutes, he puts the shards away, "I am going to go about my business, ghost. I will not allow you to alter my behavior."  
  
He slowly and calmly reenters the castle.  
  
***************  
  
later . . . nightfall, Naraku's room . . .   
  
'How is the ghost getting the power to do everything?' Naraku thinks.   
  
His clothes are in burned tatters from a candle that suddenly became a raging fire. His teeth are killing him as they regrow after being shattered when his rice was turned into rocks. Various bumps and bruises dot his body, all from man-killing attacks that are healing.  
  
He glances at the new scroll on his door. 'That should hold. Nothing should be able to enter this room. I need a good night's rest to recover.'  
  
He lies down on his futon and stares at the ceiling. 'Somehow that boy is getting extra power. Perhaps tomorrow, once I've rested up, I can see about finding out where that power is coming from and I will prevent it from reaching him. Once his extra power is gone, he'll be easy to destroy.'  
  
After a few minutes, Naraku is asleep.  
  
His futon is pulled out from under him, spilling Naraku onto the floor.   
  
"Huh?" Naraku says as he quickly stands up, the shards in hand. "Damn it."   
  
He shifts his senses so he can see magic. He looks around the room. 'I don't care anymore, when I catch that ghost, I'll fry him with the shards. The scroll is still there and still active. The ghost isn't here. How?' He thinks in anger.  
  
After a few minutes he rubs his eyes. 'Concentrating and keeping the shard ready is trying. I have to keep straining all my senses to detect him.'  
  
  
  
He gathers up the futon and lies down to go to sleep again  
  
After a few minutes, Naraku is asleep.  
  
His futon is pulled out from under him, spilling Naraku onto the floor.  
  
"Great." Naraku lies on the floor. He looks around the room again. 'No change.' He sighs, "Well the scroll is working, somewhat, apparently all he can do are simple tricks.' He thinks.  
  
"Let's try that again . . . " he says to himself.  
  
************  
  
Next morning . . .   
  
A very tried Naraku opens the sliding door of his quarters.  
  
A bowl of mush hits him in the face.  
  
He wipes the mush off his face and looks around.   
  
A very tried Kagura is standing a couple of meters away, an empty tray in her hands.  
  
"I assume last night was fun?" He asks. The walls, visible from his door, are covered in writing in red ink.   
  
The message: Bury me properly and I'll stop.  
  
As Naraku glances down the hallway and he sees that the ghost did not stop at just his doorway. There is writing up and down the hallway, even, when he glances up, on the ceiling. In addition, the hallway, instead of being immaculate, is full of trash. 'My scroll to prevented me from hearing this.' He thinks as he slowly shakes his head.  
  
The ghost boy threw a temper tantrum . . .   
  
  
  
"Sir. You might have been protected, but that bastard kid had rest of the castle under siege last night." Kagura says in a weary voice. 'I was happy when he first showed up, but right now, I'd kill that damn kid myself. Slowly.' She thinks.  
  
"Do I want to know the details?"  
  
"Every room was filled with moans, groans and screams. Nobody got any sleep. That bowl was the last piece of crockery intact in the castle. Everybody has some bumps and bruises from being thrown onto the floor. At least a couple of the guards are dead and more are badly hurt. " Kagura says.  
  
Naraku raises his eyebrows  
  
"They stopped him from igniting the castle." Kagura explains.  
  
Naraku holds up his hand. "There is no need to say any more."  
  
"Any plan?"  
  
"The kid is getting power from somewhere. If I can disrupt that." Naraku says. Kagura nods. "Get Kanna. Her mirror may not be operating properly, but it should still be able to locate that."  
  
***************  
  
In the audience chamber.  
  
"Kanna, show me that ghost." Naraku orders.  
  
Kanna pulls out her mirror and starts to look through it. Suddenly above Kanna, a huge brownish and black mass appears. It falls on her. The smell of human waste fills the chamber.   
  
Kanna still stands, but she is covered in human waste. She wipes off the mirror and looks into it.   
  
The mirror, suddenly, is covered by black ink.  
  
Naraku orders, "stop Kanna." He sighs, "put it up and go clean up." Kanna bows to her master and leaves the chamber.  
  
Naraku, Kagura and his guards leave the chamber as well. "Have the slaves clean that mess up. Lite some incense to clear the room, as well." He orders as he leaves.  
  
'Hmmm . . . I'll try it myself.' He thinks. Naraku shifts his senses so he can see magic and he looks around. 'There is the bastard.' Naraku stares hard at the ghost. He fingers the shards around his neck. 'He's watching me. If I move the shards, he'll vanish. But I can't keep this up all the time.' Naraku thinks. 'We'll just be playing hide and seek, unless.'  
  
'I've got to draw him out.' Naraku thinks. 'There is only one place that I can be sure where he will appear. His body.' Naraku nods. 'Yes, If I start to disturb his body, he'll come, and I'll know exactly where he is.' Naraku pulls out the shards and grins. 'After I'm through with him, the gods will never be able to put his soul back together again.'  
  
"Kagura."  
  
"Sir."  
  
"You and I are leaving. Now." Naraku heads to the door of the castle. Kagura pulls out her feather and joins her master.  
  
The ghost boy smiles. Everything is going according to the plan.  
  
End chapter 2.  
  
Chapter 3 will be out Oct 31.  
  
Naraku has many enemies . . . Most of them are dead.. . . and they have a plan . . .  
  
Thank you for reading  
  
jeff shelton 


	3. who will kill Naraku?

Chapter 3  
  
Who will kill Naraku?  
  
_________________________  
  
  
  
Kikyo looks up from the herbs she was gathering in the forest. 'Something is happening in the spirit world. Ghosts are gathering. Power is building.' She thinks.   
  
She summons her insects to her. "Carry me." She points off in a direction. "I need to go there."  
  
**************************  
  
Kagura and Naraku, on her feather, land next to a fire-burned ruined building.  
  
"Here, sir?" Kagura glances around. The hairs on the back of her neck are rising. There is something about this place which is causing goose bumps to crawl down her spine.   
  
"Yes." Naraku steps off the feather and looks around, getting his bearings. "There." He points off to one side of the building.   
  
Naraku glances around, 'Power is building. Massive power.' He thinks. His eyes narrow, 'I'm not going to have time to get fancy.'  
  
"Use your powers and animated the bodies that should be there." Naraku orders.  
  
Kagura gestures in that direction.   
  
Bones wiggle out of the ground and join together. Two skeletons are formed. An adult skeleton and a child skeleton. A couple of bones are missing from each skeleton, and some of the bones broken and jagged. "Something ate the bodies, sir." Kagura explains.  
  
"Wolves, probably. I heard some wolf cries as I left." Naraku smiles, "Have the small one come here, Kagura."   
  
He grabs the shards from around his neck. "Now to destroy it, totally."  
  
Magical power builds within the shards . . .   
  
The ghost boy stands next to his skeleton in broad daylight.   
  
Beside him stand more ghosts. Next to them floats an even greater number of ghosts.   
  
Ghosts appear surrounding Kagura and Naraku.  
  
As one voice they yell, "DIE! NARAKU!"  
  
"Shield!" Naraku yells and the shards form a force field around him.  
  
Kagura jumps next him in time to be covered by the field as well.  
  
A glowing dome forms around Naraku and Kagura.   
  
Multicolored rainbows of power strike the force field. Sparks fly.  
  
"Those attacks are aimed at our souls, Kagura. They mean to destroy us totally." Naraku says in a low voice.  
  
Kagura looks around. All she can see are ghosts. They are attacking the dome, trying to destroy it and destroy Naraku. She can feel the hate flow from the ghosts.  
  
Her eyes narrow, 'I remember that one. One of Kouga's wolves.' She looks around again. 'They are not going to be satisfied with just his death.' She thinks. She shivers.  
  
Naraku using his free hand points to the skeleton of the ghost boy. It collapsed outside the dome when Kagura entered the dome. "I need to get to that. Once I do that, I can win."   
  
The dome shrinks.   
  
Naraku looks at the shards, 'Even against the power of the shards, they are winning. If I don't do something, the dome will collapse. And . . . They will enjoy ripping my soul into bits.'   
  
"But I cannot hold the shield and do what I need to do with the boy at the same time." Naraku says.  
  
Kagura swallows hard and says the hardest words she'll ever say, "How I can I help, sir?"  
  
"Hold the shards and keep the dome up." Naraku says, "We'll walk over to the body."  
  
"And?"  
  
Naraku swallows hard. "And I'll do what I need to do to live."  
  
He looks at Kagura in the eyes and slowly extends his hand with the shards in it.  
  
Kagura nods and slowly takes the shards from Naraku.  
  
The dome shrinks.   
  
*******************  
  
"Naraku!" Kagome yells and she stands up in fright inside Keade's hut. She puts her hands to her ears, trying to block out sounds that only she can hear. She's falls over backward.  
  
"Kagome!" Inu-yasha yells as he grabs her, she's collapsed.  
  
"The ghosts of the dead are yelling for his death." She whispers through the pain. "I can hear their cries of triumph. They've trapped him."  
  
"Who?" Miroku asks.  
  
"What?" Sango asks.  
  
"The ghosts of all the ones Naraku has killed." Kagome shivers. "They have joined together to kill him."  
  
"They can't kill the bastard! I'm going to!" Inu-yasha yells!  
  
"Unless something changes, He's dead." Kagome says in a dead certain voice.  
  
***************************  
  
Kagura falls to her knees, tears streams from her eyes. "The pain . . . The hate . . . "  
  
"Fight it, Kagura. If you don't, we die." Naraku says.   
  
Naraku glares at an old crone standing next to the ghostly boy. 'Now I know. All the ghosts of those I've killed have joined together. They are using the boy and the promise to him to attack me.'   
  
The old crone glares back. 'I remember her. I killed her early on, to get her magical books, scrolls and items. I wonder how long it's taken her to organize this.' Naraku thinks.  
  
Through gritted teeth Kagura moans. She closes her eyes and her fist whitens around the shard. "I'm not going to lose to someone that I've already killed once." She puts her other hand on the ground to steady herself.  
  
Kagura slowly rises. "Let's go." She whispers through the pain.  
  
They both walk over to the boy's skeleton.  
  
As they walk to the skeleton, Naraku picks up a piece of tile that was part of the roof of the building. Now it is just a piece of trash that occupies the site. He brushes off the dirt and grime. 'This will do.' He thinks. He pulls out his ink and brush set with his other hand.  
  
They both reach the skeleton. Naraku bends down and prepares the ink.  
  
The dome shrinks.  
  
Kagura collapses to her knees. "I, I don't know how much longer."  
  
"Don't think that. You must survive for at least a few more minutes." Naraku says.   
  
He pulls out some incense that was in his robes. 'I had this for disguising the smell of the dead when it gets too bad.' He thinks, 'but it'll do for this.' He also takes out some paper.  
  
Naraku starts to dig next to the skeleton. His arms change to help him dig faster.   
  
He digs a shallow hole in the dirt. Naraku glances around and he locates the ghost boy.   
  
Naraku swallows and nods in his direction. He gently picks up and he carefully places the skeleton in the shallow hole. He covers the shallow grave.  
  
The dome shrinks.  
  
Kagura collapses onto her back.  
  
The dome stabilizes only a meter off the ground.   
  
  
  
Naraku crawls as he takes the piece of tile and writes on it. "I don't know what you were called, boy. But, when a person dies, they are given a new name. This is yours, now." He says.  
  
He rips the paper into two. He writes his name on one strip. He reaches over to Kagura with the other strip. He puts it on the ground next to her. He places the brush in the hand that is not holding the shards. "Write your name. Now!" He yells.  
  
Kagura grimaces, but her hand moves and the brush meets the paper.   
  
'A child's handwriting. But it'll do.' Naraku thinks as he takes the paper from her.  
  
Naraku places the tile, with the writing on it at the head of the grave. He places the two strips of paper on either side of the tile.   
  
He finds a rock and places the incense on it. A glance and the incense ignites.  
  
He takes a deep breath. 'It's this or die.' He thinks.  
  
Naraku, closes his eyes, claps his hands together and prays for good things to happen to the soul of the son he just buried.  
  
He opens his eyes and locates the ghostly boy that started this.  
  
The boy looks at Naraku, looks at the grave and the grave stone. .   
  
He nods his head yes, he's accepted the name.  
  
  
  
"NO! LET US DESTROY NARAKU!" a great cry erupts from the surrounding ghosts.  
  
The ghostly boy smiles as he fades away. His plan worked and he can be reborn now.  
  
Naraku smiles. 'Without him, without that stupid promise to get through my personal shields,' he thinks as he looks around.   
  
The dome expands.  
  
  
  
*****************  
  
"No . . . " Kagome moans.   
  
"What is it?" Inu-yasha demands.  
  
"They've lost the focus. The one thing that tied them together and allowed them to act as one." Kagome whispers.  
  
"Naraku wins."  
  
**********************  
  
'Once I fulled my promise, the ghostly boy was no longer tied to the earth and with his leaving, the other ghosts do not have a channel through my defenses.' He thinks.   
  
He reaches over to Kagura and takes the shards back.  
  
The dome expands greatly.  
  
"Now. I'm in command." Naraku grins as he stands up. "Now to send you to the deepest, darkest pits of hell."  
  
  
  
Bolts of black lightning streak from the shards. They hit the old crone ghost, the one that was standing next to the boy. She vanishes, with only a soul wrenching cry of pain as proof the ghost was there.  
  
Kagura shakes herself and she tries to sit up. She looks at the hand that held the shards. Her palm is burned through. She can see the bones in her hand. 'I can heal that. But the pain.' She thinks.  
  
She looks at Naraku, a question in her eyes.  
  
"Once he became my son, then I could bury him properly. Anybody that could throw a temper tantrum like he did, could not be a good boy."   
  
She collapses unconscious.  
  
The other ghosts vanish and scatter to escape Naraku's wrath.  
  
Naraku looks around. All the ghosts have vanished.  
  
He collapses to his knees. "Never." He sucks in a deep breath. "Never have I come so close to death."  
  
'I'm going to rest up before I wake her up. If she sees me when I'm this weak, who knows what she might do.' He thinks as he looks as Kagura.   
  
He says to himself, "Hmmm. She saved my life. Perhaps the rumors I've heard about her are wrong."   
  
******************  
  
Later . . .   
  
Kagura and Naraku vanish into the distance.  
  
Kikyo steps out from the shadows. 'The battle occurred here.' She thinks.  
  
She walks over and sees the newly dug grave. Her mouth twitches as she reads the name. 'I wonder what the story is behind that.'  
  
"Ghosts." She says as she looks around. "That's why I use only girl child souls. Their parents are still alive, so they don't know those souls are gone. And, even if, they knew, well, girl children are not important enough to get mad about."  
  
**********************  
  
The end.  
  
For your information the ghost boy's new name: Gishi Makai. (Adopted child of Hell very loose translation)  
  
I never said the ghostly boy was a good boy . . . a ghostly grin . . .   
  
Adoption was very common in Japan. Families even adopted the dead persons. (Once the imperial family adopted a dead noble, and named him an emperor. Oddly enough, the noble in life was a rebel. He attempted to declare himself emperor, and was exiled. He died in exile. Kyoto, the capital city, then had a couple of natural disasters. IT was decided that his ghost was haunting Kyoto. So, to appease the ghost, the imperial family adopted him and named him Emperor.)   
  
***************  
  
An optional scene from the fist draft of this story. I decided against it, and added the old crone in the story. If you, the reader like it, that's great, if you don't like it, ignore it.   
  
Kanna lowers her mirror. No expression is on her face.  
  
'Kagura didn't turn on Naraku.' She thinks. 'My plan counted on that. And I never thought the Naraku would lower himself to pray for the boy.'  
  
'Next time . . . I wouldn't make those mistakes.' She thinks.   
  
'All that time wasted, finding the boy, convincing him to agree to the plan, organizing the ghosts. Torturing the astrologer so he would say the right thing in front of Naraku. Even allowing myself to attacked in front of Naraku to divert his attention. Wasted.'  
  
______________________  
  
Thank you for reading  
  
jeff shelton 


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